


sipping on your lips

by Yellow



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, coffee shop AU, fluffy fluff fluff, jeweler au???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 21:07:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13152057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yellow/pseuds/Yellow
Summary: Ephrim's just trying to make a living. Alyosha's just trying to stay awake long enough to pass his exams and deal with his shitty boyfriend. They Fall In Love. Secret Samol 2017





	sipping on your lips

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Suedeuxnim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suedeuxnim/gifts).



> HAPPY HAPPY SECRET SAMOL DANNY, i was delighted to see i got you and i hope you like it!!!!!!!!!
> 
> huge thanks to linda for convincing me to write a coffee shop au and claire and emily and sarah for listening to me whine about it,
> 
> and read the end note! :3
> 
> title from Carly Rae Jepsen's "I Really, Really Like You"
> 
> the earrings referenced look like this: https://img1.etsystatic.com/143/2/5715867/il_340x270.1146708005_tjmk.jpg
> 
> the elf ears look like this (with different beads): https://i.pinimg.com/736x/72/52/dc/7252dcc9f613ff8b03cb56957467a1c3--elf-ear-cuff-wire-earrings.jpg
> 
> you can find me @capricioustube.

Ephrim tried to ask why the coffee shop was open until 2 am only to reopen at 5, once. Samothes had stared at him long enough that Ephrim had retreated into the back room and started sweeping, just for something to do.

So.

He hasn’t had the night shift for long. He used to work mornings with Hadrian, but then Primo had started saying he was too old to be up until all hours of the night, and Ephrim owed him.

Samothes didn’t believe in “recipes” or “teaching.” Hadrian looked at the coffee machine like it was going to bite him. Primo was kind and firm and taught him how to make a mocha, so. Ephrim liked staying up late, anyway. He was happy to switch.

 

But tonight it’s 12:30 am, he’s been working on wire elf ears all day and he’s exhausted. So he leans on the counter. Just a little.

He wakes up at a quarter past one, little marks in his arm where his earrings press into it. He blinks, flips his hair out of his face.

There’s a rustling noise and then Ephrim straightens and someone jumps. He grabs their arm just in time to keep them from dropping a cup of coffee.

It’s one of his old regulars from the morning shift, a soft-spoken blond guy. He looks at Ephrim, sheepish, then down at the place where Ephrim grabbed his arm.

Ephrim recoils, stands straighter. Fumbles for words.

“What-”

“I didn’t want to wake you up!” he blurts.

“I-. Don’t you have a coffee machine?”

The guy blushes, deep.

“No.”

Okay, sure. Ephrim takes a deep breath, smooths his apron, levels the guy with a look.

“Next time, wake me up.” He pauses, backtracks. “Not that there’ll  _ be  _ a next time, I mean, I’m sorry I was asleep-”

The guy chuckles, soft.

“I understand. Why do you think I’m drinking coffee at one am?”

Ephrim smiles, slight. “Point.”

They look at each other a moment.

Ephrim sighs. “That’s on the house, of course. Enjoy.”

He smiles, bright, and begins to turn.

“Ah-what’s your name?”

The man turns back.

“Alyosha.”

“I’m Ephrim,” Ephrim says, and Alyosha looks at his nametag. “Hitchcock?”

He sighs, long. “My boss is cheap.” The twins had moved out to a cabin a year ago.

Alyosha presses his lips together to keep from smiling.

“I see.”

“So,” Ephrim says, a little flustered, “we’re open until two.” He looks at the case of pastries. “Nobody else is gonna come in- you want one?”

Alyosha hesitates.

“They’re gonna get thrown out, anyway,” Ephrim says.

“All right,” Alyosha says, and chooses a cherry tart.

The way he looks when he takes it, like he’s worried Ephrim will snatch it back, makes Ephrim want to give him every pastry they have in the case. But he just steps back to the register and smiles, forced.

Alyosha smiles, takes a seat and opens his laptop.

Two am rolls around quickly and Ephrim starts cleaning up. Alyosha looks exhausted. He finally walks over to him and tells him the shop is closing.

Alyosha blinks down at his laptop and nods. “It snuck up on me.”

He stands, a little off balance.

“You gonna be okay to get home?”

Alyosha blinks at him.

“Yes,” he says, and Ephrim wants to ask if he’s been sleeping, but he’s already done too much. He just learned this guy’s name.

Alyosha walks out the door and Ephrim follows, locks up, turns the welcome sign over. By the time he’s done closing, Alyosha is gone.

 

He doesn’t see Alyosha for the next few days, and he worries, stupidly. Ephrim  _ knows  _ Alyosha is an adult, knows he’s fine. It doesn’t stop him from almost snapping at Hadrian when he asks what’s wrong.

He’s in again that night, at midnight. He looks horrible- dark circles under his eyes, stringy hair. Ephrim tells himself, don’t comment, don’t comment, until Alyosha’s at the register and he can’t help himself.

“Are you okay?”

Alyosha blinks at him. 

“I’m sorry, I-”

“No,” Alyosha says. “I-” He sits down on a chair, hard, and puts his head in his hands.

“My boyfriend and I are fighting,” he says, voice reed thin, “and I should be studying for qualifying exams.”

“Oh,” Ephrim says, as a small part of him files away the word “boyfriend.” He moves closer, not sure how forward to be. He settles for hovering. 

“Want to-talk about it?” he ventures, and Alyosha makes a strange, stifled laugh.

“No, I’m fine,” he says, and wipes his eyes. Ephrim pretends not to notice.

There’s a moment of silence.

“Uh, did you want to order something?”

Alyosha pops up. His eyes look a little red. 

“Ah- yes. Do you have-a mocha? Something sweet?”

Ephrim’s heart beats a little faster. He’s struck with a sudden urge to punch this boyfriend. He wants to keep talking to him, to make him smile.

“Of course,” he says. He runs behind the counter and makes him the drink, fiddles with it a moment. 

He presents it to Alyosha, a little shy.

Alyosha looks down at it and his face lights up. Ephrim worries he’s going to start crying again.

“It’s so cute!” he says, flushed, and Ephrim smiles, looks down at the little cat drawn in the foam. 

“Good luck studying,” he says, and Alyosha’s smile softens. 

“Thank you, Ephrim,” he says, and turns to his laptop.

Ephrim never gets customers after midnight, really, just Alyosha. He takes the late shifts even if it means he’s not getting tips. Alyosha doesn’t show up in the mornings much, anymore, and Ephrim tries to tell himself he likes the late shifts because he can get work done in the mornings that way.

They always chat a little, and Ephrim learns about his degree: religious studies, his boyfriend, who he met in an intro philosophy class in undergrad. (Apparently they dominated the discussion enough the professor told them to take it outside, and, well). 

It’s good to know about him, because otherwise Ephrim would be thinking about things like, what does Alyosha’s hair feel like, and would he like to kiss me, maybe. This way he can just enjoy the company of a nice guy when he’s working until ass o’clock five nights a week. 

And he never makes fun of the music Ephrim plays-sometimes he even sings along-

Shit. Shit. Just a customer. Just a friend.

 

One night Alyosha bursts in the door. Ephrim looks up from his sweeping, smiling without meaning to. His face drops when he sees Alyosha’s face.

His eyes are red and he has a bag slung over his shoulder, no coat. He looks a little dazed and he walks up to the counter, already apologizing.

“I, uh,” he says, “I just needed to leave, I-” He pats his pockets and comes up empty. “I, suppose I don’t have my wallet,” he says, voice thin. “Can I just stay here?”

“Are you in danger?” Ephrim asks, and Alyosha shakes his head, over and over.

“Just a bad fight,” he says, and then someone else comes through the door.

He’s a little shorter than Alyosha, and a bit shorter than Ephrim. His hair is dark, slicked back, and he has a sharp, handsome face, pinched in a frown. Alyosha pales at seeing him.

“Alyosha,” he says.

Alyosha shakes his head again.

“Go home,” he says, and Ephrim stands a little straighter.

“You just ran off,” he says. He runs a hand through his hair and steps closer. “I didn’t mean-”

“I need some time alone,” Alyosha says, whole body rigid.

“Alyosha-”

“He told you to leave,” Ephrim says, surprising himself.

“And you are?” the man asks, attention snapping to him for the first time.

“Ephrim,” he says. “Not the type of person who bothers people who want to be left alone.”

He can see Alyosha tamp down a smile out of the corner of his eye. Ephrim leans closer as he bristles.

“You?”

“Tutor Arrell,” he says. He nods at Alyosha, who won’t meet his eyes. Softer, he says, “I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Alyosha nods, slow.

He leaves. Ephrim relaxes and Alyosha breathes out, long.

“Sorry to involve you,” he says, low, and Ephrim wants to hug him, suddenly.

“Are you okay?” he asks again, instead.

“I found out he’s thinking of transferring PhD programs from a letter I saw, accidentally,” Alyosha says, low. 

Ephrim sucks in a breath.

“I’m sorry,” he says, helpless. Alyosha finally looks up at him, smiles.

“It’s not your fault.”

Ephrim holds the broom, loose, thinking. He barely knows this guy. But-

“Do you want to sleep at my place?” he blurts out, and blushes. “I mean, I have a couch-”

Alyosha stares at him and starts laughing. 

“This is truly exceptional customer service.”

Ephrim flushes further.

“I mean, I-”

Alyosha stops laughing and smiles at him, looking better than he has in a few weeks. 

“I’m sorry,” he says. “It’s a sweet offer, but I couldn’t impose.”

“It’s one night, and you’re a PhD student, right? I have room, you wouldn’t have to pay for a hotel-”

Alyosha bites his lip.

“You’re sure?” He adjusts the bag where he has it slung over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Ephrim says, breathy. “Yeah, we close at two-well, you know.” 

Alyosha laughs again, soft, and sits in one of the big armchairs near the fire, pulls one of Samot’s books out of the bookshelf, and starts reading. 

 

It’s like every other night, Ephrim thinks, trying to sweep without glancing at Alyosha every other minute. No one comes in. Ephrim cues up his favorite playlist of guilty-pleasure pop. 

And Alyosha falls asleep sometime between him wiping down the counter and cleaning out the coffee machine. Ephrim waits a little longer, rocking from foot to foot, wondering if he’ll wake up.

He looks happy, sleeping. Ephrim sighs and shakes his shoulder.

Alyosha blinks up at him, and smiles, and Ephrim is so terribly jealous of Arrell in that moment he feels like he’ll catch on fire.

It passes, just, quieting to a low blaze, and Ephrim swallows.

“Ready to go?”

Alyosha blinks and stretches. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” 

“That's okay,” Ephrim says, quiet, and Alyosha untangles himself from the chair, puts the book back. 

“I’m ready,” he says, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. 

Ephrim flips the OPEN sign to CLOSED and holds the door open for Alyosha, then locks it behind them.

“So,” Ephrim says, and tries for a smile. It just comes out like a nervous grimace, as far as he can tell, and Alyosha giggles. 

“Lead the way.”

His apartment is pretty: white walls and tall ceilings and huge windows. He really shouldn’t be able to afford it, but his landlord cuts him a pretty good deal because he made his daughter jewelry for her wedding at a steep discount. He pushes the door open with his shoulder and flips the lights on. Alyosha trails him, a little shy.

“Okay, so-” Ephrim says, putting his bag down on the counter. “There’s, uh, the bedroom over here, and the bathroom. And here’s the couch-I hope that’s okay, I have pillows-”

“It’s fine, Ephrim,” he says, cracking a smile. He walks forward to the desk Ephrim pushed up against a window.

“Are these-”

“Elf ears, yeah!” Ephrim laughs, nervous. “I know it’s a little weird, but it pays the bills, and-”

“I don’t think it’s weird,” he says, looking Ephrim in the eye. 

Something in his chest feels fragile.

“You- don’t?”

“No,” he says, and peers at one in particular, silver wire and jade beads. “May I?”

Ephrim nods. “Just- be careful.”

He looks at it, close. 

“Is this just connected by-wire?”

“Yeah,” Ephrim says, tongue tripping over his words, “yeah- see.” He takes the ear from Alyosha, gentle, and points at the place where the inner and outer ear are connected by a smaller wire, neatly looped around them. “Nothing’s soldered together-it’s all wire wrapping.”

“It’s so pretty,” Alyosha breathes. “Do you make other things, too?”

“Yeah,” Ephrim says, and starts imagining what sort of earrings would look good on Alyosha: gold-filled wire, maybe, and sapphires, bring out the blue in his eyes. Or maybe amethyst, or rose quartz: something pastel for his light coloring.

He coughs. “I mean, yeah, I make everything, these just reliably pay the bills.”

Alyosha’s eyes light up. 

“Will you show me something else?”

Ephrim glances at the clock, despite himself, and Alyosha follows his gaze.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I should let you get to bed-”

“No, I-” Ephrim says, and turns, abrupt, to rummage in the desk drawers, pulling out colorful little boxes. He opens one and pulled out delicate earrings: rose gold wire spiraling around amethyst beads. Alyosha gasps at the sight.

“Here,” Ephrim says, and holds them up to Alyosha’s ears. They would be gorgeous on him, just as Ephrim expected. The gold brings out the gold in his hair; the light purple plays off his grey-blue eyes. And then suddenly Alyosha is very close; Ephrim had swayed towards him. And for a moment Ephrim thinks he's going to kiss Alyosha, or be kissed, and he starts to close his eyes.

Then Alyosha turns his head, slight, and says, “I think we should go to sleep, after all.”

Ephrim steps back as if he’d been burned.

“Yeah,” he says, breathy. “Yeah,” and he packs the earrings away, gives Alyosha a blanket and pillow.

He won’t look Ephrim in the eye until he’s about to leave, and even then just barely, clutching the blanket close.

“Thank you, again.”

Ephrim looks down at him, smiles, barely. “Don’t worry about it,” he says, and goes into his room and screams as quietly as he can into a pillow.

 

Ephrim wakes up fairly late, usually: his shifts don’t start until late afternoon, earliest, and he never gets into bed until 3 am, earliest. 

It’s 10:30 when his alarm goes off and he stares at his phone, bleary, before remembering Alyosha. He leaps up and pulls on some pajama pants, stumbles out the door.

Alyosha is gone. There’s a little note on the counter.

 

_ Thank you again, Ephrim,  _ it says. Ephrim wonders if Alyosha’s mad at him. They weren’t really-nothing happened. Nothing happened.

 

He spends the whole morning making gold-and-amethyst earrings. For no reason at all.

 

It’s another few days before Alyosha comes back, looking sheepish.

“I’m sorry,” Alyosha says, when he comes through the door.

Ephrim stops fiddling with the machine and looks up, smiles despite himself.

“Hey!”

Alyosha smiles, small.

“Hey. Sorry for running out on you-”

“It’s fine,” Ephrim says. He peers at Alyosha. “You okay?” he asks, forced-casual, wiping the counters.

He sighs. “Yeah. Yeah. He-apologized.”

Ephrim keeps wiping.

“Is he still going?”

Alyosha doesn’t say anything for a minute.

“I’m-I’m sorry, that was too far-”

“I don’t know,” Alyosha says finally, sighing. “He just can be-difficult. He cares.” 

Ephrim keeps wiping and pointedly doesn’t answer for a moment.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he says. 

“Yeah,” Alyosha says, and orders a coffee, and they move around each other, silent and awkward.

 

It goes like that for a week. The easy conversation comes back. They don’t mention Arrell at all, and Alyosha seems quietly relieved. And Ephrim’s fine. He’s fine. He’s just-happy Alyosha is happy. Truly.

 

And then Alyosha stops coming again, for a day, two, and Ephrim should really know by now not to get too attached-he’s just a customer (he’s not, something says, quiet)-but he worries anyway.

He comes back on the third day, quiet, eyes red. Ephrim’s heart twists.

“You okay?” he asks, soft, and Alyosha smiles at him, sad.

“He’s transferring. We broke up.”

Ephrim drops the rag and moves to hug Alyosha almost without thinking. He folds himself into Ephrim’s arms, sighs.

“It’s okay, Ephrim,” he says, soft. “It was coming for a long time.”

“You can still be upset,” he says, and Alyosha’s breath hitches and hides his face in Ephrim’s neck.

“Oh, Alyosha,” he says, and tugs him closer.

“There’s a better researcher there, Samot never liked him anyway-” he says, choked, and Ephrim hushes him, puts a hand on his hair.

“That’s not an excuse,” Ephrim says, gentle.

“I know,” Alyosha sobs.

He pulls back after a moment, takes a deep breath, and wipes his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he says, catching his breath. “I’m-I came here for coffee, I promise-”

“Alyosha,” Ephrim says, and cups his face with a hand. Alyosha leans into it, closes his eyes, and Ephrim leans close, until he and Alyosha are breathing the same air.

Alyosha’s eyelashes flutter, and then he leans forward a hair and they’re kissing.

Ephrim closes his eyes and leans into Alyosha, pulls him in with a hand on his hip. The other slips down to his neck and he kisses him, over and over, Alyosha sighing into the space between them.

Ephrim is warm all over. He starts to push Alyosha’s shirt out of the way, stroking his bare skin with his fingers, and Alyosha gasps and pulls back.

“Eph-Ephrim,” he says, holding onto his shoulders. “I can’t-I-”

Ephrim lets him go as if he’s been burned.

“I’m sorry, I-”

They look at each other a minute longer, Alyosha’s pupils dilated, his breath coming fast, and then Alyosha says, “I’m sorry,” and runs out the door.

  
  


Alyosha doesn’t come back for months. Ephrim doesn’t forget about him, but life moves on, and after a few weeks he stops looking for him walking in the door.

And then one day he looks up and Alyosha is standing at the counter, looking half-terrified and half-frozen, wrapped up in a thick woolen scarf. 

“I’m sorry,” he blurts out, just as Ephrim says, “Alyosha,” wondering.

“I needed some time,” he says. “I-I passed my exams,” Alyosha says. 

Ephrim slowly takes off his apron.

“I’m taking my break,” he yells to Primo, not taking his eyes off Alyosha. 

Primo chuckles. “Have fun, kid.”

He walks around the counter and drags Alyosha out of the coffee shop and around the corner by the hand. 

His breath shows in the air and his cheeks are red but Ephrim feels warm, all over.

“I missed you,” Ephrim says. He hasn’t let go of Alyosha’s hand.

Alyosha’s eyes are wide. He nods. 

“I want to kiss you,” Ephrim says.

Alyosha nods very fast and they both lean in at the same time, bump noses, try again, and then-

Alyosha’s lips are cold but he’s cupping Ephrim’s cheek with a gloved hand and it’s so  _ nice _ . Ephrim pulls him closer and kisses him again, deeper, their breath misting in the air when they break apart.

“I have to go back to work,” Ephrim says, not moving.

Alyosha doesn’t nod this time, just looks at him, eyes half-lidded. Ephrim wants to see him that way again, face red, eyes hazy, one hand creeping into Ephrim’s hair.

“Do you still have the night shift?” he asks, and Ephrim leans closer.

“My favorite customer stopped coming, so I started going to bed at a reasonable time,” he says, leaning close.

Alyosha smiles, a cat with cream.

“I’m your favorite customer?”

Ephrim pulls back just enough to roll his eyes. 

“The guy with the guitar is a  _ great  _ tipper; he almost stole your spot,” Ephrim says, and Alyosha is laughing and leaning back in.

Ephrim kisses him and, wow, he’ll never get tired of this, but he really  _ does _ need this job.

He pulls back, pulls Alyosha’s scarf closer around him.

“Tonight?”

Alyosha hands him his phone. Ephrim punches his number in, puts his name as “Ephrim (Hitchcock)” as an afterthought. 

Alyosha sees it and laughs. He kisses Ephrim on the corner of the mouth and says, “Have a good day at work,” then turns, smiling.

Ephrim watches him go and pushes open the door to the coffeeshop.

 

Primo raises an eyebrow at him when he walks back in.

“Good news?”

Ephrim takes the broom and starts sweeping so he doesn’t have to look him in the eye.

“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I think so.”

**Author's Note:**

> they take things slow. ephrim tells him he needs to know if alyosha is really ready for this-and he says yes, he says that ephrim treats him so much better than arrell did. ephrim sees him make that wondering face again, the one he made when ephrim gave him a pastry, even at simple things, like ephrim reading him a story when he's sick, or braiding his hair, or making him dinner.
> 
> ephrim privately hates arrell and is all the more affectionate for it.
> 
> he keeps the earrings on reserve. they date for three years. alyosha finishes his phd and ephrim's business takes off. they still get coffee at the old shop.
> 
> the day after alyosha graduates ephrim takes him there and then to the park. gets down on one knee. proposes with the gold-and-amethyst earrings he made so long ago.
> 
> alyosha is so quick to kiss him that they don't realize until that night that he never actually said yes.
> 
> the earrings look just as good on him as ephrim always thought they would.


End file.
